Problem of Evil

Fretheim on Evil and Creation

59 I believe that the consistent witness of the Old Testament is that sin and evil do not have their origins in God nor are they written by God into the structures of the universe. Sin and evil have their origins in the human will, not in God or in God’s plan. At the same time, when sin and evil do enter into the life of the world, they do not become constitutive of what it means to be human (or any other creature). That means that we are not so permeated with sin and evil that we cannot name such forces or work against them. At the same time, it needs to be said that evil is a powerful reality in the world and has become systemic, built up over time into the very infrastructure of creation. A reclamation of creation will be necessary.60

Fretheim, Terence E.. God and World in the Old Testament: A Relational Theology of Creation . Abingdon Press. Kindle Edition.

Piper Prays for Family of Five Killed in Car Accident

Audio availible. From the link:

Jamison and Kathryne Pals and their small children were driving from Minneapolis to Colorado for final preparations as missionaries to Japan. They planned to leave in October. But in an interstate construction zone in western Nebraska, a semi truck rear-ended the family’s vehicle.

Tragically, the entire family died at the scene, including Jamison and Kathryne, both 29, and their three young children, 3-year-old Ezra, 23-month-old Violet, and 2-month-old Calvin.

The 53-year-old trucker was arrested and charged with five counts of felony motor vehicle homicide.

And random Calvinists on the internet respond:

Calvinists Respond to Death

Short on Evil Being a Part of God’s Plan

From It’s All Part of God’s Plan:

Have you ever heard someone tell another who is going through a nasty life circumstance that “It’s all a part of God’s grand plan?” If that theory were even true, I don’t see how it would be comforting. I don’t see how the theory would make God out to be more trustworthy than if nasty circumstances were not in God’s plan!

[Quote of Exodus 5:1-6:1]

The above (rather lengthy) reading reinforces in the Book of Exodus the great need the Israelites had for deliverance. The people’s suffering, as emphasized by the additional suffering imposed in this chapter, was never God’s will. God did not want this situation at all (cf. Exodus 3:7; Isaiah 30:1; Hosea 8:4)! God, beginning here, worked through Moses and Aaron to turn the difficult situation into a powerful deliverance.